Valve Technology

I'm not in the valve business, but I can tell you about the worst manager I ever experienced in 30 years in the chemical industry. He was a plant mgr in wisconsin in charge of a plant with 200 workers. He P.O'd the workeres so bad, his tires were slashed and he was afraid to go out to his car alone after work. Instead of firing him as he deserved, they "promoted" him to lab manager in the South in charge of 20 or so chemists and technicians. My technician and her friend were the co-chairs of the lab safety committee. The went to him with some ideas about how to improve the safety program and make it more participitave. He listened and said he'd think about it. Next day, he called a safety committee meeting and presented their ideas as his own. The 2 co-chairs were floored! He took the wind right out of their sails! He had an arrogant obnoxious attitude that didn't sit well with customers. He even looked like the pointy-haired boss in Dilbert! My chemist colleague developed a specialty product that made tons of money. He worked with the sales mgr,and mktg mgr to commercialize it, but they were pretty much just along for the ride. My colleague wrote a nomination of his product for a technology award and included their names on it and submitted it through this manager. He then retired a couple months later. The nomination won an award, but only the sales and mktg mgrs names were listed in the front page press release. This A$$ had deleted the chemist's name because he had retired. Many people raised holy hell all the way up to the CEO about the shabby treatment of my retired colleague. After 5 months and much pressure, this managerial moron finally restored the chemist's name to the award, and a correction appeared on page 9 in the local paper. He said it was an "unfortunate misunderstanding". During this time, he laid me off along with several others. I was very unhappy working under him and was close to getting on at a competitor. He led me to a room with the HR mgr and read my dismissal letter. He then leaned back in his chair, folded his arms and had a smirk on his face like he was thinking, "I bet I just showed YOU who's Boss!" I smiled, stood up and shook his hand and said,"Thank you! I've been soooo ready to leave ever since you took over and put yourself in charge!". Next day, I sent him a nice, sincere Hallmark "Thank You" card. Outside it said,"You didn't have to do what you did..." and inside, "But what a difference it made!" How often do you fire somebody and they send you a thank-you card? They finally wised up and canned him a couple years later. He had to move back to the snow belt to get a job he hates. I stayed in my same location, worked for myself and started my own company. Yep, he showed me who's boss alright- ME!

Personally I see Management skills as independent of any particular business.

To me it as a people skill, more than specific to the business, in other words.

(Of course this view is not absolute, for it certainly helps if the manager is familiar with the specifics of any particular business, but I believe a Great Manager can well manage people, even if ignorant of the specific business.)

Great Managers can make even the most miserable jobs fun.

They ask questions, ask for volunteers, and get all the tools and time needed to do the job.

They defend their crews. (Often from those above.)

Successes are shared, as are failures.

They can tell the difference between those on the crew that are co-operative sorts, and those that simply must be told in an authoritarian way, what to do.

Sometimes they will actually fire someone, especially if that person creates an unsafe situation, and then if that person drags down morale.

It can be a very difficult position for you are sometimes stuck in between an angry and resentful crew, and manipulative higher ups.

From my experiences Family Businesses are particularly hard on Managers, since they may well be in the position of having to manage members of the family who have built in resentments.

The Management position is also fraught with contradiction, since on the one hand you inherit the "culture" that is typically long established by the owners and leadership, and aren't really supposed to change that, and on the other hand you are supposed to make things better.

P.S. I'm currently unemployed, any leads would be appreciated.

You make good points. I find good management skills are too far and few between in American industry today.[p]

I view good management skills as similar to coaching a ball team. Many of the same pinciples apply. [p]

A good mgr recognizes a worker's natural skills and tries to put them where they are of most value to the company. A good mgr teaches skills , trains and develops his /her subordinates.[p]

When the organization has success, a good mgr gives credit to his/her well-trained staff. When the organization experiences failure in spite of the well-trained staff's best efforts, the good mgr accepts the blame for not having the staff trained well enough to handle that situation.[p]

That's how I've coached my ball teams, and how I run my small business. I believe work should be fun, and endeavor to make it that way for all concerned. If you enjoy what you do, you do a better job at it.